Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is planning major additions to its curriculum that would bring more medical students, physician assistants and doctors to Carbondale and areas of rural southern Illinois where they are desperately needed, administrators announced Wednesday.

Currently, SIU med students receive the majority of their education in Springfield. But under the Lincoln Scholars program, a select group of students would be trained entirely in southern Illinois, with new classes at the Carbondale campus, and new clinical rotations and residency opportunities at area hospitals.

The goal, administrators say, is to groom the next generation of rural caregivers, as health care becomes increasingly concentrated in urban areas.